The State Library of Massachusetts now live with DSpace-GLAM: In January 2025 The State Library of Massachusetts decided to migrate from DSpace-Express to DSpace-GLAM (Massachusetts State Library is transitioning from DSpace Express to DSpace-GLAM: A Digital Revolution in Cultural Heritage Management – 4Science).
In the new digital repository instance, content and metadata were enhanced in a DSpace-GLAM fashion. During the restyling and updates to branding, the team took great care to preserve the State Library’s visual identity. In addition to a new appearance and visualization for Digital Collections, the team reorganized the data, which enabled flexible management through the open-source Digital Asset Management Solution maintained and optimized by 4Science.
While navigating across a vast number of digitized and digital documents*, search capabilities and tools* make a difference in the user experience and in everyone’s workflow. Therefore, the need for findability and usability was a driving force behind the design and realization process.
The collaboration
The strong collaborative relationship between the 4Science and State Library teams made this great project possible. The new platform launched in July after months of hard work, collaboration, and development. The new platform is now live at State Library of Massachusetts :: Home.
The State Library of Massachusetts’ team said: “During the State Library of Massachusetts’ migration to DSpace-GLAM, the 4Science team listened closely to our wants and needs, responding with thoughtful, customized solutions tailored to the unique nature of our digital collections and users—even when we weren’t sure what questions to ask during the process. Thanks to their innovative approach and deep knowledge of the DSpace platform, our collections are now more accessible, efficient, and future-ready than ever before.”
What are the major differences between DSpace-Express and DSpace-GLAM
The State Library of Massachusetts needed a more tailored solution to manage, discover, and showcase the digital cultural material they host. The DSpace-GLAM metadata schema is entity-specific and flexible, while supporting metadata nesting and valorization of contextual information by creating configurable bi-directional relationships.
For Administrators and End Users
With DSpace-GLAM, the State Library of Massachusetts admins are now able to manage autonomously homepage components (set to slide show and highlights of aggregations, renamed as Digital Collections). Hierarchical filters by Aggregation/Digital Collection and UI-based advanced search options adds precision to the search experience for all users. In addition, thanks to 4Science’s cloud infrastructure hosted on AWS, the platform has enhanced performance that improves the overall user experience.
You cannot miss
Thanks to the enhanced capabilities of DSpace-GLAM and the material managed by the State Library of Massachusetts, the number of digital collections to explore is limitless. The homepage highlights major digital collections that you should explore including:
Bills (Legislative Documents) and House and Senate Journals
To navigate the full list of published digital collections, see:
State Library of Massachusetts :: aggregations-list
What’s next
Thanks to the strong partnership, we are already working on additional implementation, features, and improvements for the future of DSpace-GLAM. At 4Science we recognize the evolving needs of the GLAM realm, and our project are always followed by refinements so that institution’s do not stay behind the curve of innovation.
The future is bright, and we cannot wait to see what comes next. Our team is committed to bringing the rich past of the State Library of Massachusetts into an even brighter future. By making the past more accessible, we’re helping to build a more sustainable tomorrow.